Backing up your photography work and thinking about the workflow to do is it essential whether you’re a hobby photographer with pictures of your kids on your computer or a pro working with client images.

Pro photographer Chase Jarvis has created a fantastic video showing how he and his team keep their data safe. It’s pretty high level stuff in terms of scale but it’s a great overview which can be scaled down to smaller systems and setups.

Wow, what an amazing set-up. I’ve got all of that going on…on a much smaller scale except for the off-site storage. I need to find a good solution for this. Wow…can’t get over his gear!

foo

never thought one piece of data has so many copies of it. Guess there’s where the money paid to Chase goes.

Gill

I barely made it through the first 2 minutes of this. Not because of the content but because of the background music. Not only was it too loud, but vocals?!?! C’mon, it was supposed to be an informative, instructional video about workflow, not a mismatched music video.

I can live with background music – as long as the sound balance is OK – but vocals make it really difficult to properly listen to, appreciate and ingest the content. And it’s not just this video, there are more and more like it beginning to appear.

http://gtvone.com/gallery Sime

Gill, I don’t like overly loud music / where the music kills the dialogue… but I’ve got to say, that isn’t the case in this video – perhaps there’s a frequency issue with your speakers? try sticking in some headphones and seeing if that changes things perhaps? (I’ve listened to it on studio monitors (Mackie HR624II’s) and it sounds very well balanced) — Hope that helps.

Simon

http://www.heckler.com.br/blog/ Claudio

This is very interesting information; on the workflow too, sure; but for the amateur among us, I think thoroughness of the backup and disaster proofing plan is something to be studied and adapted. Losing even a single image to an accident is a painful experience.

Oh, and btw, I did enjoy the music and didn’t find the vocals got on the way of the narration at all;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/joaoassuncao Joao

Its amazing!!! But too expensive for a single person.
G-Tech is a very good solution but you cannot put it on a network and backup all your devices.
I think DLINK DNS-323 a good solution for your home devices because you can put it on a network and make a backup of everything you want and you still have RAID1 protection.

Very impressive – but surprised that this important data is never kept in a fireproof safe for earthquake and fire protection, or completely offsite on an FTP Server somewhere. Granted, file sizes are likely huge, but……

http://pxjunkie.blogspot.com wrerm

What do you do if you can’t afford such an elaborate setup?

Mark Pashia

@wrerm

At the very least you should set up one or two external drives. The 1TB drives are about $100 these days. Either set them up as a RAID where they are both exact copies of each other or use one as main storage and the other as a backup drive. If you chose the latter, you need to decide on a schedule of backups. Daily is reasonable, but even hourly is common. I know some who do this but never format a card thus using the cards as the original backup by having all of the original photos on their original card. That can get very expensive as well, since cards are a lot more than hard drives these days.

Probably the best information from this video is the fact that he is using SOLID STATE DRIVES in the field. No spinning platters to mess up!!!! We should all look at that. If you tilt a drive while it is spinning, YOU LOSE THE DATA most likely!!!! Very good info.

http://www.darrenclarkphoto.blogspot.com darren_c

Great video and a lot of really good information.

@wrerm – I agree with Mark Pashia; he has given you some really good suggestions, too. You don’t need really expensive gear; you can get away with a few inexpensive drives. However, it’s important to have a planned structure for how you’re going to save your work.

I was looking at the G-Tech Raid drives myself, but could not justify the cost (I’m not a pro, just a hobby shooter). I went with a Western Digital Mirrored Raid 2TB (1TB in mirror mode, but you can configure to Raid 1 or 0). This is my main storage plus backup #1. Backup #2 is a 250GB Seagate (also inexpensive) which I’ll use until I need more than 250GB. Backup #3 is a portable WD 500GB drive that I keep off site. I run backups at regular intervals and they all mirror the original main storage.

My system is not perfect, but I still have multiple copies of all of my RAW files, edited files, and Lightroom Catalog Backups.

Otis Sullivan

Have any of you guys seen the Drobo system?
Check it out at drobo.com it is a lot simpler than all this!

http://nine95.com MIchael Pedzotti

A great documentary and tutorial wrapped up in one. Thanks Chase. I am not a photographer but I still picked up some useful tips on backing up, working with live data (not raw) and taking data off site. Thanks again.

http://iamcarlosnavarro.com Carlos A Navarro

Thanks Chase and crew! That was great! I am in the middle of plotting out my back up system and this really helped. I don’t have as large of an operation as you do but i will use elements of this for mine. Awesome Video!

http://www.cbimages.ca Chris

This really helps. I am glad he mentioned that his way isn’t the way because I can’t afford that setup. His point was mad that you should have multiple copies of both your raw data and your “live” work.

Back to the drawing board for me.

http://www.patrickbowman.com Los Angeles Photographer Patrick Bowman

His setup is downright disturbing! That’s bank right there.

Some older comments

Los Angeles Photographer Patrick Bowman

September 10, 2010 11:53 am

His setup is downright disturbing! That's bank right there.

Chris

July 20, 2010 11:15 am

This really helps. I am glad he mentioned that his way isn't the way because I can't afford that setup. His point was mad that you should have multiple copies of both your raw data and your "live" work.

Back to the drawing board for me.

Carlos A Navarro

July 2, 2010 03:00 am

Thanks Chase and crew! That was great! I am in the middle of plotting out my back up system and this really helped. I don't have as large of an operation as you do but i will use elements of this for mine. Awesome Video!

MIchael Pedzotti

June 30, 2010 10:52 pm

A great documentary and tutorial wrapped up in one. Thanks Chase. I am not a photographer but I still picked up some useful tips on backing up, working with live data (not raw) and taking data off site. Thanks again.

Otis Sullivan

June 27, 2010 03:37 pm

Have any of you guys seen the Drobo system?
Check it out at drobo.com it is a lot simpler than all this!

darren_c

June 27, 2010 10:16 am

Great video and a lot of really good information.

@wrerm - I agree with Mark Pashia; he has given you some really good suggestions, too. You don't need really expensive gear; you can get away with a few inexpensive drives. However, it's important to have a planned structure for how you're going to save your work.

I was looking at the G-Tech Raid drives myself, but could not justify the cost (I'm not a pro, just a hobby shooter). I went with a Western Digital Mirrored Raid 2TB (1TB in mirror mode, but you can configure to Raid 1 or 0). This is my main storage plus backup #1. Backup #2 is a 250GB Seagate (also inexpensive) which I'll use until I need more than 250GB. Backup #3 is a portable WD 500GB drive that I keep off site. I run backups at regular intervals and they all mirror the original main storage.

My system is not perfect, but I still have multiple copies of all of my RAW files, edited files, and Lightroom Catalog Backups.

Mark Pashia

June 26, 2010 11:14 pm

@wrerm

At the very least you should set up one or two external drives. The 1TB drives are about $100 these days. Either set them up as a RAID where they are both exact copies of each other or use one as main storage and the other as a backup drive. If you chose the latter, you need to decide on a schedule of backups. Daily is reasonable, but even hourly is common. I know some who do this but never format a card thus using the cards as the original backup by having all of the original photos on their original card. That can get very expensive as well, since cards are a lot more than hard drives these days.

Probably the best information from this video is the fact that he is using SOLID STATE DRIVES in the field. No spinning platters to mess up!!!! We should all look at that. If you tilt a drive while it is spinning, YOU LOSE THE DATA most likely!!!! Very good info.

wrerm

June 26, 2010 05:45 pm

What do you do if you can't afford such an elaborate setup?

Alan Geer

June 26, 2010 12:30 pm

Very impressive - but surprised that this important data is never kept in a fireproof safe for earthquake and fire protection, or completely offsite on an FTP Server somewhere. Granted, file sizes are likely huge, but......

Joao

June 26, 2010 06:36 am

Its amazing!!! But too expensive for a single person.
G-Tech is a very good solution but you cannot put it on a network and backup all your devices.
I think DLINK DNS-323 a good solution for your home devices because you can put it on a network and make a backup of everything you want and you still have RAID1 protection.

here is the link:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/456500-REG/D_Link_DNS_323_2_Bay_Network_Storage_Enclosure.html

Claudio

June 25, 2010 09:53 pm

This is very interesting information; on the workflow too, sure; but for the amateur among us, I think thoroughness of the backup and disaster proofing plan is something to be studied and adapted. Losing even a single image to an accident is a painful experience.

Oh, and btw, I did enjoy the music and didn't find the vocals got on the way of the narration at all;

Sime

June 25, 2010 09:26 pm

Gill, I don't like overly loud music / where the music kills the dialogue... but I've got to say, that isn't the case in this video - perhaps there's a frequency issue with your speakers? try sticking in some headphones and seeing if that changes things perhaps? (I've listened to it on studio monitors (Mackie HR624II's) and it sounds very well balanced) -- Hope that helps.

Simon

Gill

June 25, 2010 06:44 pm

I barely made it through the first 2 minutes of this. Not because of the content but because of the background music. Not only was it too loud, but vocals?!?! C'mon, it was supposed to be an informative, instructional video about workflow, not a mismatched music video.

I can live with background music - as long as the sound balance is OK - but vocals make it really difficult to properly listen to, appreciate and ingest the content. And it's not just this video, there are more and more like it beginning to appear.

foo

June 25, 2010 04:15 pm

never thought one piece of data has so many copies of it. Guess there's where the money paid to Chase goes.

Jack Fussell

June 25, 2010 07:15 am

Wow, what an amazing set-up. I've got all of that going on...on a much smaller scale except for the off-site storage. I need to find a good solution for this. Wow...can't get over his gear!

Sime

June 25, 2010 07:07 am

What did you guys take from that?

Backup Backup Backup!!

I use G-Tech gear - there is nothing like it! Though, A G-Speed will have to be next on the list - at which point I will be kicked out of my house for having tooo many drives!

G-Tech is worth every cent, OR, you could just win some!! --> http://www.g-technology.eu/competition/